Friday, November 17, 2006

Re-post: Some brief thoughts about terrorism - Jul 05

Monday, July 25, 2005Some brief thoughts about terrorism It's occurred to me that I haven't yet blogged anything about the recent terrorist events in London, so here are some of my thoughts about it, briefly:

Living in cities causes problems. Why do so many of us still live and work in major cities? There's no longer any need for it, it's unhealthy, we need more space than that and having so many people grouped together in such a small space creates prime targets for anyone who wants to make problems. We're pack animals, not herd. Villages work best.Terrorism only works if the public plays its part, by agreeing to be terrorised (afraid). This is where the Great British stoical stiff upper-lip really comes into its own, and our Blitz spirit. We're very good at not being terrorised - ask the IRA or the Nazis. Put simply, anyone's life *could* end any time, by any means. Dying by bomb attack is just one of them. To live in fear is to live a half-life, and we won't do that.The events are obviously designed to strike our economy, which would be severely damaged if people lost confidence in public transport and city life. We really should rethink the structure of our economy and make it less vulnerable to this. The events will strengthen the arguments in favour of ID cards, increased surveillance and more checks and limits on immigration. I'm still against those things. If someone wants to kill a lot of people, they'll find a way no matter how much 'security' is in place. 'Security' is an illusion at best and a dangerous liability at worst, as poor Jean Charles de Menezes discovered.